GOOD CHECK: Jackson EMC District Manager Randy Dellinger presents a $15,000 Jackson EMC Foundation grant check to Salvation Army of Lawrenceville Captain Andy Miller. The grant will be used to help provide emergency rent or mortgage assistance to families in crisis and prevent homelessness. For other local grants, see Notable below.
IN THIS EDITIONTODAY’S FOCUS: Gwinnett Ballet Theatre To Give “Sensory Friendly” Performances
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Year Before An Election Often Far More Interesting Than Election Year
FEEDBACK: Hospital Merger, Identifying Politicians and Long Lost Contributor
UPCOMING: Gwinnett Chamber Backs E-SPLOST Election Coming This November
NOTABLE: Lawrenceville Council Meetings Now Available Online
RECOMMENDED READ: The Final Recollections of Charles Dickens by Thomas Hauser
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Early Settlers Were Relatively Young, with Children
TODAY’S QUOTE: What Can Happen When You Open the Door for People
MYSTERY PHOTO: That Windmill May Have Confused Many People
LAGNIAPPE: How Texans Add Things Up
TODAY’S FOCUS
Ballet Theatre announces season of “sensory friendly” performances
By Holly Calmes
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., Sept. 15, 2015 | Commitment to the community is a cornerstone of Gwinnett Ballet Theatre’s cultural foundation. The non-profit organization, which includes the school as well as the performing company, has produced many programs in past years, bringing live arts experiences and dance education to children and adults in Atlanta and Northeast Georgia.
Such efforts have included free ticketing for performances, support with special events, raffles and giveaways, inclusion of other non-profits’ staff and clients in programming. Also included was the highly touted “Dance Project” which gave free ballet classes, shoes, apparel, and educational support materials to underserved elementary school students throughout Gwinnett.
In 2014, one of GBT’s parents brought a new idea to the administrative staff and board of directors. Jennifer Manton is the mother of a lovely young dancer at the GBT School. She also has a young son with autism. In her role as Director of Operations for the Hirsch Academy in Norcross, she could attest to the need for performing arts opportunities for individuals with autism and other sensory issues.
Gwinnett Ballet Theatre dancer Mary Grace Manton and her friends from the Hirsch Academy are looking forward to GBT’s Sensory Friendly performance of ‘Cinderella’ on Friday, October 2 and 7:30 at the Infinite Energy Theater. (Photo by Richard Calmes.)
Manton initiated and supervised the first “Sensory Friendly” performance with one of GBT’s The Nutcracker school shows in December, 2014. The success and overall positive reception of the idea and the event led the leadership of GBT to plan more such performances for the 2015 – 2016 Season.
In fact, GBT begins its season with a Sensory Friendly show. On Friday, October 2, at 7:30 pm in the Infinite Energy Theater (formerly the Gwinnett Performing Arts Center) the ballet Cinderella will be performed for an audience consisting of individuals with autism and other sensory issues, and their families.
The Nutcracker will also offer this special audience a show of their own on Friday, December 4 at 11:45 am in the same theater. These two performances will offer this important group of citizens the opportunity to enjoy performances in a safe and welcoming environment.
The performance itself incorporates measures to be amenable and supportive of those with sensory issues. Lights will be left on in the audience at a low level, yet not completely dark. Music will be lowered to avoid sudden noises or loudness which can be startling. A large viewing area in the lobby will also be available should patrons wish to be outside of the enclosed audience area. Ushers and other hosts are understanding and respectful.
Best of all, audience members do not have to sit still if they wish to move about! They are welcomed to walk around, clap, cheer and otherwise enjoy the ballet as they cannot do under other circumstances. This initiative is being supported by the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia which gave GBT a grant in support of this effort.
Tickets for the Sensory Friendly performance of Cinderella can be purchased at InfiniteEnergyCenter.com, the Arena Box Office or by calling 770-626-2464. They are $8 for individuals and $6 for groups of 10+. Tickets for the sensory-friendly Nutcracker show can be purchased through Gwinnett Ballet Theatre by writing to gbt78@bellsouth.net.
- For more information about GBT, visit www.gwinnettballet.org or call 770-237-0046.
Year before election often far more interesting — such as in 2015
By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
SEPT. 15, 2015 | The year before national elections always seems much more interesting than the election year itself.
So here we are in 2015, smack in the run-up to the election. And can’t you say the political stories are mighty interesting this year? However, the first quarter of next year, we may know who the two major candidates are, and from then on out, it will be more of the same over and over until the voting. That’s usually not as interesting as the many twists and turns this year to see who continues to be a candidate, And we have already seen one of the candidates, Rick Perry, dropping out of the race.
The major news in 2015 has been centered on two fronts.
First, Donald Trump continues make news nearly each day on the Republican side, as he twists and turns and cajoles and grabs headlines in making himself the leader among the many polls. Say what you will about him, he knows how to get
Trump
attention. And those poor other (15 now) candidates are lost in finding a way to center attention on their candidacies.
What looked like a good run for Scott Walker and others now seems more doubtful to their candidacies, all because of the hard-to-predict and sometimes boorish manner by which Trump campaigns.
We can’t see him leading the country. Another outsider who burst onto the national scene, Ronald Reagan, at least had political victories under his belt as the governor of California. Our Georgia outsider, Jimmy Carter, also had experience as a governor.
But Trump? Now we are beginning to wonder if he will be a viable candidate. It could spell the doom, or the resurgence, of the GOP. You shudder to think how Trump would seek to govern. You can almost see his relationship with Congress in shambles!
* * * * *
The second front, on the Democratic side, is interesting this year because the obvious leader, Hillary Clinton, can’t seem to get out of one tight spot after the other. Having no obvious opponent with national prominence, still she continues to move down in the polling, not being away to distance herself from recriminations. Some party regulars now openly talk about the possibility that she may not emerge as the nominee.
We are among those who have questioned if she will be the nominee. Each day one small question after another erupts, each little blimp pointing downward for her candidacy. One headline labeled her efforts a “swoon,” further indicating problems.
Then this week we hear that a computer that Mrs. Clinton used had not been “wiped,” with the possibility that some of her emails may be retrieved. Should this happen, and some of those emails turn out to be dealing with national security items on her personal computer, her candidacy may be doomed.
If so, who will emerge as the Democratic possibility? Bernie Sanders now is closest to Mrs. Clinton in the polls. While it seems unreasonable that an avowed Socialist would be chosen by the Democrats as the nominee, look what happened in Britain! The new leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, is a leftist and political outsider, one most would never have thought would become the party leader.
And Joseph Biden may not have the zest for the campaign, plus his age is a drawback. Who’s left? Some want to mention former Senator Jim Webb as one possibility. Others, many with their own problems, await on the sidelines.
With all this brewing, it’s obvious that 2015 is a mighty interesting political year.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTMingledorff’s
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- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: Our sponsors.
Hospital merger feels like Gwinnett headed back to 1970s
Editor, the Forum:
I understand the Gwinnett Hospital System and Northside are planning a merger. I don’t like it.
When Eastside and Piedmont Hospitals merged services, it became necessary to pass Eastside (about two miles from my home) to drive to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville to my preferred cardiologist.
How long before I will have to go all the way to Northside? Aren’t we going back to where we were in the 1970s?
— Bill Baugham, Snellville
Wants writers to treat politicians with modicum of equality
Editor, the Forum:
I recognize that Debbie Houston’s recent “Another View” (about politicians getting caught being quoted correctly) was very tongue-in-cheek, but it’s time for the news media and others to stop using last names for male candidates and the first name for a particular female candidate for president. Let’s at least show a modicum of respect by treating the candidates equally.
With that said, let’s talk about Rump…er, Trump. It’s hard to imagine how impotently angry people must be with our national politicians to decide to support this man. He plays on some of the basest emotions people might hold, and I’m amazed so many Americans appear to agree with his proffered positions on the issues.
I cannot imagine Donald Trump governing this country well, and I believe he would alienate America from its western-hemisphere neighbors and its worldwide allies. If he runs as the Republican candidate, it won’t be hard for Pill…er, Hill, to beat him, if she gets the Democratic nomination.
— Michael L. Wood, Peachtree Corners
Long-lost contributor returns with zest
Editor, The Forum:
Maybe we should refer to Trump as Mussolini-lite.
— Byron Gilbert, Peachtree Corners
Dear Byron: Welcome back. We’ve been missing your comments.-eeb
- SEND FEEDBACK AND LETTERS: elliott@brack.net
Chamber resolution backs upcoming E-SPLOST November vote
The Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has approved a resolution in support of the Gwinnett County Education SPLOST, which will be on the ballot November 3, 2015.
Dr. Daniel J. Kaufman, president and CEO of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce, says: “The economic success Gwinnett County continues to experience can be directly tied to the quality of our schools. The education SPLOST has allowed our schools to keep up with growth, implement needed technology and maintain a level of excellence that ensures students are ready for college or the workforce when they graduate.”
If approved, the education SPLOST, or E-SPLOST, will generate $950 million that will be used to build and renovate public schools, upgrade technology, and make needed transportation investments.
Sean Murphy, chairman of the Gwinnett Kids Count campaign and global CEO of Procurri, adds: “Every facility in the Gwinnett County Public Schools and Buford City Schools systems has benefitted from past E-SPLOST investments. More importantly, so has every family who sent their child to one of these schools or employer who hired a graduate. We are grateful for the Chamber’s endorsement and hopeful that voters will agree to continue to invest in our schools and our county’s future this fall.”
The Gwinnett Kids Count campaign has been formed to build support for the E-SPLOST referendum. In addition to Murphy, campaign leaders include Norwood Davis, campaign treasurer and chief financial officer of 12Stone Church, and J. Michael Levengood, an attorney and campaign general counsel.
- More information about the Gwinnett Kids Count campaign can be found at www.gwinnettkidscount.com.
Suwanee Citizen’s Police Academy deadline is Sept. 25
Suwanee’s Citizens Police Academy provides area residents with a hands-on glimpse behind the badge and a better understanding of the risks and responsibilities of Suwanee police officers. The 10-week program will next be offered from 6:30-9 p.m. Monday evenings beginning October. 5. Classes, which end December 14, will be at the Suwanee Police Training Center, 2966 Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road.
Applications are available at suwanee.com. Notarized applications 
are due Friday, September 25.
The academy offers classroom training and hands-on experiences in crime scene processing, traffic stops, building searches, crime prevention, and narcotics identification and provides an understanding of the day-to-day responsibilities of officers. The program is designed to open and maintain communication between citizens and the police department.
Classes are free and open to the public, but space is limited and priority is given to those who live and work within the City of Suwanee. A criminal and driver history background is required for all applicants.
- For additional information, contact Officer Richard Pope at rpope@suwanee.com or 770-904-7641.
Buford Human Services Center to be honored by Ser Familia Inc.
Buford Human Services Center is being honored as Community Partner of the year at Ser Familia, Inc.’s fourth annual “Celebrating Our Heritage” awards dinner on September 25 at the Rialto Center for the Arts in Atlanta.
Executive Director Belisa M. Urbina of Ser Familia, Inc. says: “The Buford Center is being recognized as Ser Familia’s partner of the year for the support that the center and its Center Coordinator Ingrid Patrick has given to our organization; helping us further our mission to strengthen Latino families, particularly in the north Gwinnett county area.”
Ser Familia Inc.’s mission is to strengthen, revitalize, and equip Latino youth, couples, parents, and families through educational programs that teach improved life, leadership, and communication skills, and empower participants to thrive and enjoy a healthy family environment.
Services are offered at the Buford Human Services Center, 2755 Sawnee Avenue in Buford on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. For more information, visit www.serfamilia.org or call 678-363-3079.
Lilburn planning Classic Cars in the Park on Sept. 26
Classic cars, trucks, and motorcycles and live music will fill Lilburn City Park on Saturday, September 26. The City of Lilburn presents Classic Cars in the Park, an open car and bike show taking place inside the park. Spectators will have the opportunity to see a wide variety of collector cars, motorcycles, and trucks.
This family-friendly event takes place from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and is free to spectators. Last year, 97 vehicles registered for the show.
In addition to great cars and bikes, there will be food vendors and a 50/50 raffle benefiting a local animal shelter. “The Surge!” will perform surf/instrumental music at the band shell beginning at 11 a.m. The group hails from Lilburn and has opened for the Beach Boys.
All years, makes, and models are welcome to register. Trophies will be awarded to the Top 20 judged vehicles, as well as Best Bike, Best Truck, Best Car, and Best in Show. Awards will be presented at 2 p.m. Register your classic vehicle at southeastwheelsevents.com.
- For additional registration information, call 770-883-0160 or email mike@southeastwheelsevents.com.
Lawrenceville now has council meeting minutes available online
City of Lawrenceville Council Meetings can now be viewed online through the City’s website. Since the construction of the new council chambers, located on the fourth floor of City Hall, newly installed technology enables the city to capture and disseminate Council proceedings to the general public within 48-hours of each meeting.
Mayor Judy Jordan Johnson says that the city is “…..very enthusiastic about this new system as it allows for us to be more proactive in connecting with our residents and community. This system makes it possible for individuals who – due to time conflicts – are unable to attend regular meetings in order to stay informed about current City issues.”
Following all public Council meetings and gatherings, video footage will be uploaded to the City of Lawrenceville website. The following meeting videos are now available online:
- September 2, 2015 – Mayor & Council – Special Call Meeting
- September 9, 2015 – Mayor & Council – Regular Meeting
Jackson EMC Foundation grants total $29,800 to local agencies
The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded a total $83,800 in grants during their August meeting, including $29,800 to agencies serving Gwinnett County residents. Local grants include:
$15,000 to the Salvation Army of Lawrenceville for the Family Emergency Services program, which prevents homelessness and stabilizes families by providing rent or mortgage financial assistance directly to the landlord or property holder; the agency provided more than 200 families with rent assistance in 2014.
- $5,000 to the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta to offer The Girl Scout Leadership Experience in Gwinnett County, a program to help girls discover their own strengths, connect with others in healthy relationships and become more resourceful problem solvers.
- $5,000 to the Samaritan Center for Counseling and Wellness, an Athens non-profit serving all counties in Jackson EMC’s service area except Lumpkin, that provides confidential, compassionate mental health services to individuals, families and community groups, to help replace outdated computers and software used for client information and intake/scheduling procedures.
- $4,800 to Hope for the Journey, Inc., a compassionate community cancer outreach program in Lawrenceville serving Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall and Jackson counties that provides support, meals and educational materials to child and adult cancer victims and their families, working closely with the American Cancer Society.
The Jackson EMC Foundation is funded by Operation Round Up, which rounds up the more than 180,000 participating cooperative members’ monthly electric bills to the next dollar amount. This “spare change” has funded 997 grants to organizations and 315 grants to individuals, putting more than $10 million back into local communities since the program began in 2005.
RECOMMENDEDThe Final Recollections of Charles Dickens
A book by Thomas Hauser
This story recounts the final years of Charles Dickens’ life but begins with his telling of the most haunting series of events in his life. Dickens’ early years were of grinding poverty because of his father’s spendthrift ways, and the harsh class system of 19th Century England. The story is shocking because of the murder of a man and disfigurement of a woman. The greed and evil of the profligate nemesis is interlaced with Dickens’ coming of age. The reader travels with Dickens to American twice; first as a little known author, and then as a renowned storyteller sought after across the land. As his life wanes he recalls many of the memorable people he met along the way, notably the wife of the nemesis, the beautiful Amanda Wingate. This story begins as memoir, evolves into a murder mystery …and ends on a poignant and satisfying note.
— Karen Harris, Stone Mountain
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (100 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. –eeb
GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBITEarly settlers of Georgia tended to be young, with children
(From previous edition)
American settlers who flooded into Georgia tended to be young and brought enough women and children to offset imbalances within the population. Because they were familiar with the environment, they suffered less severely from “seasoning.” They also forcibly brought with them thousands of slaves of African origin and, together with earlier settlers who shared their appetite for plantation labor, imported thousands more via the Atlantic slave trade. As a result, Georgia’s colonial population leaped from an estimated 3,500 in 1752 to around 29,000 in 1773.
In the first wave, most of the seaboard region was claimed by settlers hailing from South Carolina and the West Indies during the 1750s. Slavery soon dominated the Lowcountry landscape, and as had already happened elsewhere on the mainland, provided a key rationale for integrating immigrants on the basis of their skin color. Although a significant Congregational township was settled at Midway, which quickly became prosperous, immigration declined with the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War (1756-63). The global conflict discouraged communities and individuals from risking a dangerous Atlantic voyage. More specifically, the lack of military protection in Georgia was a source of great consternation, since the province was sandwiched between the three great warring European powers and two restless Indian confederacies.
A second wave of royal-era migration began in the 1760s, with settlers who were more diverse in origins and ambitions than the plantation-oriented first wave. Although adventurous individuals and lone families poured in, most new arrivals belonged to larger communities. Some came for religious reasons, like the Quakers from North Carolina who claimed land in the township of Wrightsborough in 1768. Other groupings were occupational: in 1764 a number of shipmates in the Royal Navy, including the captain, first lieutenant, surgeon, and a number of “servants” who may well have been crew members, decided to settle on the Great Ogeechee River, along which they acquired neighboring tracts of land.
Georgia’s leaders, fearful of becoming overrun by unruly single white males, battled doggedly to ensure that their preferred brand of settler was encouraged—what Governor James Wright described as “the Middling Sort of People, such as have Families and a few Negroes.” In the early 1770s, Surveyor-General Henry Yonge reported that only 3,000 “plantable” acres remained unclaimed, mostly in unattractive and far-off locations.
By the end of the colonial era, white Georgians were still intricately connected to the wider Atlantic world, through commerce and kinship, but most had come to view themselves as more than just relocated British subjects or insular communities. When the impulse to subscribe to a new republican identity seized the eastern seaboard in 1776, just enough of the colony’s diverse free settlers considered themselves “Americans” to take part in the American Revolution (1775-83). During the conflict, thousands of opportunistic slaves and disaffected Loyalists sought to reverse their earlier migration by fleeing the newly declared state. Immigration to Georgia would continue apace after the war’s end, but the first motley waves had already become an independent ocean.
- To access the Georgia Encyclopedia online, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Beautiful, detailed formal garden is this edition’s mystery
Check out this beautiful formal garden. Clue: it’s not around here. Such gardens take lots of tender care, and it may take your tender care to figure out where this is located. Send your answers to elliott@brack.net and be sure to include the town where you live.
Only one person positively identified the last edition’s Mystery Photo. It was from Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill, who wrote: “Our best friends have a home in Sicily so we’ve watched many, many slide shows and I was surprised at seeing old windmills there. So when I saw this photo, my first thought – of course – was Holland, but I looked up “old windmills in Sicily” just for kicks and found it. It’s an old windmill in Marsala in the Mozia salt flats, if I’m not mistaken.”
She added: “Some of the salt pans are still operative, and the windmills, though no longer used for their original purpose of pumping water, sometimes retain their sails. On the shore closest to Mozia, right by a ferry stop, one of the windmills has been made into a shop and visitor centre, the Museo del Sale.” The photo was sent in by Ross Lenhart of Pawley’s Island, S.C.
LAGNIAPPESomething’s always boiling in Texas
This photograph was circulated recently on the Internet. We always knew Texans thought big, but we never realize that those in the Longhorn State would take it this far. What we have learned is that Texans count far different than the rest of us.
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